Conventionally, as work performed in a distribution warehouse, picking work is known in which a worker picks up a product or the like according to a work instruction. In this picking work, a worker picks up a product or the like according to the following procedures while using, for example, a barcode reader (also referred to as a barcode scanner).
(1) First, the worker scans a form barcode printed on a picking list (a form) with a barcode reader (for example, a handheld barcode reader). The picking list is an example of a work instruction. As illustrated in FIG. 14, a product to be picked up, a position where the product is placed in a distribution warehouse (a shelf number and a coordinate), a quantity of the product (the number of products to be picked up), and a form barcode in which information including these items is coded are printed on the picking list. For example, what is printed on the first line in the picking list illustrated in FIG. 14 is that a product to be picked up is a “product A”, the product is placed at a position of a coordinate “1-1” on a shelf with a shelf number “N3”, and the number of products to be picked up is “1”, and a form barcode in which information including these items is coded is also printed on the first line. In other words, this first line indicates that an instruction to pick up “one” “product A” placed at a position of a coordinate “1-1” of a shelf with a shelf number “N3” is to be given to a worker.
(2) In the procedure (1) described above, if, for example, a form barcode in the first line in the picking list illustrated in FIG. 14 is scanned, the shelf with the shelf number “N3”, a destination, where the “product A” is placed is displayed on a display portion of the barcode reader, and the worker moves to the shelf with the shelf number “N3” according to the displayed destination.
In the distribution warehouse where the picking work is performed, a shelf barcode 302 is attached to each shelf 301, wherein a shelf number of the shelf 301 is coded in the shelf barcode 302, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 15. A coordinate barcode 304 is attached to each position 303 on each shelf 301, wherein a coordinate of the position 303 is coded in the coordinate barcode 304. A product barcode 306 is attached to each product 305 placed at each position 303 on each shelf 301, wherein information on the product 305 is coded in the product barcode 306.
(3) When the worker arrives at the shelf with the shelf number “N3”, the worker scans a shelf barcode attached to the shelf with the shelf number “N3” with the barcode reader.
(4) When the shelf number (“N3”) represented by the shelf barcode scanned in the procedure (3) matches the shelf number (“N3”) included in the information represented by the form barcode scanned in the procedure (1) described above, the coordinate “1-1” for a position where the “product A” is placed on the shelf with the shelf number “N3” is displayed on the display portion of the barcoded reader, and the worker moves to a position of the coordinate “1-1” according to the displayed coordinate.
(5) When the worker moves to the position of the coordinate “1-1”, the worker scans a coordinate barcode attached to the position of the coordinate “1-1” with the barcode reader.
(6) When the coordinate (“1-1”) represented by the coordinate barcode scanned in the procedure (5) matches the coordinate (“1-1”) included in the information represented by the form barcode scanned in the procedure (1) described above, the worker scans a product barcode attached to a product placed at the position of the coordinate “1-1” with the barcode reader. Then, when information on a product that is represented by the product barcode scanned at this point matches information on a product that is included in the information represented by the form barcode scanned in the procedure (1) described above, the worker picks up the product. Here, the picking work with respect to the form barcode scanned in the procedure (1) described above (the picking work with respect to the “product A”) is terminated.
After that, the process returns to the procedure (1), and the same procedures are performed repeatedly with respect to each of the remaining form barcodes in the picking list.
When a worker performs the picking work described above, there is a need for the worker to repeatedly scan four types of barcodes that are a form barcode, a shelf barcode, a coordinate barcode, and a product barcode every time he/she picks up a product.
A symbol reader (see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2014-99176) in which one or more symbols (such as barcodes) are collected and displayed on a display so as to be selected by a user, and a picking cart (see Japanese Patent No. 4127001) which makes it possible to realize, for example, a thoroughly paperless environment are known as devices used to perform a picking work.